Beyond the
Sapphire Gate
Book One of The Flow of Power
R.V. Johnson
Join the readers group at http://www.authorrvjohnson.com and get the first two chapters of the next book in The Flow of Power series. Coming soon free to those who join: “Beyond Terra,”
a novella set in the same two worlds.
Copyright © 2015 by R.V. Johnson All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Printed in the United States of America. Lost In New World Publishing.
Beyond the Sapphire GateThis book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
For information contact; http://www.authorrvjohnson.com
Cover design by DHMDesign
ISBN: 978-0-9861655-0-4
Ebook ISBN : 0986165506
First Edition: March 2015
For my children, may they never fully grow up.
For my late wife and mother, Lisa Pulver Johnson and Betty Jo Johnson, they always believed in me. I am eternally grateful.
Most of all, for readers and reviewers like you.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to thank my editors, Bryce Anderson and Rob Bignell for all their hard work. The writing group’s astute critiques helped keep me in check, as did the beta readers and proofreaders, Crystal Harris and Gary Fannin to name but two.
INDENTURE
A fine dust haloed from the leather-bound Tiered Tome of Symbols as Crystalyn Creek closed the cover. The glossy leather binding, embossed with white symbols across the front and back, attracted her from the start. What enthralled and disconcerted her was the behavior of the symbols when she concentrated on them.
She must be slipping, her brain misfiring again, she thought. At a mere twenty-two seasons, she was spiraling into madness. Who would take care of Jade? Dad was too weak.
Crystalyn stared at a symbol on the tome’s cover, once again tracing its intricate webbed pattern with her eyesight. Before she’d gotten far, it churned, spinning into a maelstrom, the symbol bleeding down into it, then whisked away. She looked away, then back. The symbol rotated to a stop as they had throughout the morning. All it took was a flick of her eyes to the symbol imprinted beside it. This particular pattern was under the heading titled “Defensive Symbols” in chapter two, though how a symbol could help with defense was beyond her. Symbols conveyed a meaning, or many meanings, entwined into one. Perhaps whoever chronicled it had meant for it to signify a defensive meaning for the object inscribed?
Unfortunately, Crystalyn only knew one person who may have the answer: her Indenture Service Provider, Ruena Day, but she couldn’t ask her. Ruena would think she’d slipped for sure.
Crystalyn stretched, working the kinks from the small of her back. She’d sat at the plasicrete podium reading the book too long. The mid-morning transport shipment still sat on the dock along with the many other shifts-end duties she should’ve completed by now. Now she’d have to scramble to finish. At least there hadn’t been any new artifacts to scan, or dot map, as she called the process since the hand-held converted the objects’ exact dimensions to a digital image.
A throaty voice spoke from behind. “There’s work to be done, and there you are lounging.”
Crystalyn jumped to her feet. The ragged, low-tech stool she’d been sitting on rolled across the floor and banged against a thrust motor crate. “Oh! I didn’t know you were here.”
Ruena regarded her. Surprisingly, no frown marred her features, but her full dark-shaded lips had compressed to their usual thin line. Pulled back, and braided on the sides, her generous black hair went well with the two thin locks that arced out and down to end near the upper cheek. The dragon scythes—as Ruena called them—accented her rounded nose and sharp face, but failed to draw attention away from her vibrant almond eyes. “Don’t belabor the obvious, Crystalyn. Did you get the new arrival finished?”
“Yes, the Low Realm artifact is complete. All of it was measured, dot-mapped, and converted to holo image early last night.”
“Good. Have you sent them to me?”
“No, the collection is too large. I had to write them to a protein gel drive. It’s secured with your genetic imprint and on your desk.”
Ruena smiled. “I’m going to be working with it soon.”
Ruena was in a rare mood. Did she dare ask? “Will you let me take the book home tonight? I’ll dot map it on my free time.”
Turning away, Ruena froze. “What do you mean?”
Crystalyn moved to the side.
Seizing the Tiered Tome of Symbols from the podium, Ruena gazed at her. “How did you get this? I locked it in my desk a long time ago.”
“I found it here. Honestly, I thought you left it for me to Dot map and holo replicate.”
For the longest moment, Ruena’s eyes bored into hers. Finally, her dark gaze flicked to the dusty tome in her hand and she frowned.
Crystalyn quelled her rising anxiety with difficulty though it shouldn’t have been so hard. She’d activated the new way for her med cylinder at lunch, implanting it in her eye as physician Ralston had directed, but how could she know it was working?
“Besides security, you’re the only one who knows the current code to my office,” Ruena said, looking up.
“True, but how would I get in your desk? I don’t have a key.”
Ruena regarded her, her eyes dark coals. Crystalyn stared back, refusing to look away, though her anxiety rose.
Abruptly, Ruena spun and marched to the neural scan door that led deeper within the warehouse. Stabbing her black mane into the red beam, it switched to green and the door whisked open. Ruena stalked through. “Come with me,” hung in the air behind her.
Crystalyn scrambled to stay close. Beyond the threshold, the flooring changed from plasicrete to the spongy air-infused sealant of older times, which deadened the sharp sound of Ruena’s spiked heels and the slap of her boots. They marched between the hover crates Crystalyn had personally programmed for optimal space planning and ease of retrieval. Her eyes automatically noted the remaining empty spaces’ shapes and sizes for future arrivals; few remained bare, even though the most valuable pieces were stored in a monstrous titanium vault she’d dubbed “the Mausoleum” taking up the entire north wall. Even Ruena called it “the Mausoleum” now.
Built for observation of the Mausoleum and most of the storage area in the warehouse, Ruena’s one-way glassed office resided in the eastern interior. Circular in design, it brooded like a giant wheel of darkened glass triggered by motion to light up and reveal different horrors trapped inside. Ruena’s lengthy strides soon brought them to a standstill in front of the sole entrance. Touching an unobtrusive spot beside the door, Ruena slid her fingers to one side. A small keypad activated in the shadowed glass. Her slender digits danced, entering the code for the week. The lock clicked its release and the heavy glass door swung inward with a whoosh. Glancing sharply over her shoulder, Ruena paused at the threshold, her eyes glinting in the sterile, overhead light.
Crystalyn kept her face smooth. She hadn’t done anything wrong. Well, perhaps, she shouldn’t have spent the day reading, but Ruena could
dock the day’s six credits if she must. It would hurt, but losing her indenture would hurt worse.
“Wait here,” Ruena finally said. Her purposeful steps carried her beyond the glass-topped desk that sat facing the office interior as the door closed with a soft hiss.
Crystalyn stared at her distorted image reflected back from the dark glass. She’d disliked the office from the first day of winning her indenture four and half seasons ago. Surprisingly, Ruena had picked her from a pool of over a million strong. She’d thought then as she thought now, the office was too big and so ugly. It certainly fit Ruena, though. The bigger and gaudy something was, the greater her ISP liked it. Sometimes it seemed, Ruena considered her station in life to be higher than the King of High Realm. Perhaps her service provider was above the King. Much of the royal treasures had ended up in Ruena’s office or stored in the Mausoleum. Still, it didn’t explain how a real book had come to be where she’d found it. If the Mistress of Ancient Artifacts hadn’t left it on the dock, then who had? Ruena was right about access. Only Ruena, security, or Crystalyn herself, could get into the Big Ugly. Yet no one had a key to the great desk except Ruena. Why would anyone remove something so valuable from inside the desk then leave it lying around the most insecure area of the whole complex? It made no sense.
The office door’s barely audible hiss forewarned of Ruena’s arrival. “You’re still here? Isn’t it past time for you to leave?” she asked, arching a fine, black eyebrow.
To Crystalyn’s disappointment, Ruena had left the book behind. Though she’d expected it, bitterness still left an acrid taste in her mouth. “You told me to wait.”
“Yes, so I did. Come, I’ll walk you out.”
Ruena set a brisk pace back the way they’d come. Crystalyn fell in beside her, disappointment fueling a growing anger which made little sense also, but the afflicted part of her brain didn’t need much—if anything—to set her off. The book was a possession of her ISP; Ruena would do as she chose.
Ruena broke the stillness. “What did you want with the tome? Speak quickly and truthfully.”
Crystalyn hurried to reply before the woman changed her mind. “Symbols fascinate me, they always have. Did you know most could be redrawn and combined into one giving them a meaning much higher in complexity, even those elaborate ones in the book? I’ll map them to holoscreen, combine, and redraw them. You’d have your measured images of the symbols and my combined ones, all replicated in holo formula. I’ll have it back to you my next service day.”
Silence pervaded the warehouse beyond their footsteps, her question, and offer, going unanswered. Had she pushed too much? Crystalyn could almost feel the irritation radiating from the older woman, but there was the matter of the symbols swirling on the book she couldn’t ignore. Was it a clear indication of slipping though she combated her affliction with medication, or something else? “Can I ask you something?”
Ruena glanced at her sidelong. “I suppose you must.”
“Why would someone create so many symbols in the first place? It must’ve taken an exorbitant amount of time, as well as an artistic aptitude, to draw them all with…ink. Is the book that old?”
Ruena’s lips thinned. Their pace quickened.
Once again, the neural door loomed close. Pausing only long enough for the scan, Ruena strode to the dock stairs where she halted, both hands resting on firm hips. “I have decided. The book’s age makes it quite valuable; extreme care is essential. I will map it for replication personally. Clear it from your thoughts. I shall set the security system myself, this time. Please, be certain your exit is secured behind you as I buzz you out.”
So there it was. She’d never see the book again. Ruena hadn’t yet budged from a decision once made.
Crystalyn grabbed her daypack from the spot on the floor she’d taken to storing it upon her arrival to work, and slung it over a shoulder. Seven steps—she’d counted them so many times—brought her to the exterior door, but it failed to budge when she put her shoulder to it.
“There is a final item to mention before you depart.”
Crystalyn suppressed a sigh. What could the woman want now? Hadn’t she done enough? “Yes?”
“Be prompt at first light, I’m expecting a shipment. Replicate and record it in my holo data base, then store it in the Mausoleum.”
“But that’s my one free day!”
Ruena’s fine black eyebrows rose. “Is there a conflict? Perhaps I haven’t selected the right assistant, as I believed. Another could easily be located. Training someone new to replicate and list the shipments will be annoying, yet it should not take—”
“No, no conflict. I’ll be here.”
“See to it.” Ruena pushed the button hidden on the plasicrete pod. The irritating buzz of the ancient door unlatching grated on Crystalyn’s ears and made her wonder again why the infuriating woman insisted on its use, High Realm had higher technology to offer, such as the neural scan door. It wasn’t as if the woman couldn’t afford it either. Ruena was in all probability the richest person anywhere on the three realms, besides the King. Crystalyn should thank the One that Ruena had chosen her above the rest for indenture. With her mother vanishing from home seasons ago, and Dad losing his servitude as head of the King’s security a season after, the family had relied heavily on her earned credits.
Shouldering the door before it relocked, she stalked toward the manned security booth a full block south, another of Ruena’s egocentric security holdovers. With the overhead dome’s protection, the woman didn’t need the added cost of a live guard, entrances and exits could be set up with a remote holo feed, coupled with a transparent trip beam.
She fumed as she walked, trying to make sense of Ruena using the excuse of the book’s value. She’d personally handled enough valuable items over the last season alone to buy a palace or two on High Realm, if anyone were willing to sell—which she doubted—as scarce as real estate had become.
Now, to keep her indenture, she had to give up her one free day with her family to receive yet another shipment. The one bright spot was; she’d receive triple pay for the day. Ruena had never paid the triple credits for service before. What was so special about tomorrow’s shipment?
It all made little sense, which was normal for Ruena. The woman never offered a single reason for her demands.
Pausing, Crystalyn shifted her pack to her front, and rummaged inside. Where had she put her med cylinder?
SPIRAL CURTAIN
Crystalyn removed her finger from the print scanner. The soft whir of hydraulics sounded within the stainless steel door as it retracted into the Mausoleum’s shell. Using the laser cutter she’d carried from the dock as a pointer, Crystalyn motioned her younger sister Jade to maneuver the hovercart inside, eyeing it with fresh amazement as it passed. It looked made from real wood. The cost was so extravagant, her curiosity about its contents, grew.
Settling the cart at the floor’s center, Jade turned in a slow circle, gaping at the Mausoleum’s glittering contents. “Wow! You actually get to indenture here?” Not waiting for a response, she dashed to a nearby glass shelf where a gold sundial, inlaid with diamonds and rubies glinted on a silver stand. With barely a pause, she raced to several gem-studded statues grouped beside glass jewelry stands, her lengthy, auburn hair trailing behind. “Oh—” Jade said the awe thick in her voice.
Crystalyn smiled. Her own reaction to the gold scales, jeweled bowls, gilded armor, and formal head gear—all artifacts Ruena had acquired somewhere—had been similar to her sister’s the first time she’d worked in the vault. Even now, she found the Mausoleum fascinating. Much to her delight, she would on occasion happen across artifacts that she’d never seen before—Ruena had an eye for the exquisite. Today, Crystalyn found she had a hard time enjoying the room’s objects after the swirling symbols yesterday. She’d fretted over it the night through. “I’m glad you like the Mausoleum Jade, but I brought you along for one other reason besides your physical help. I’ve struggled wit
h telling you something that happened yesterday. You have to promise me you won’t tell Dad. I’m not sure his heart could stand this one.” Crystalyn paused to draw a long breath. “I don’t know where to begin, so I’ll blurt it out. Believe it or not, I found a book, a real book of symbols that swirled when—”
“Oh, I’ll believe anything now,” Jade interrupted. Folding her arms across her stomach, she leaned against the door, her green eyes round. “Something happened to me too, is happening right now. Please, hear me out, Crys. I’ll try to explain.”
“All right, hurry though. You’re the only one I can talk to about anything.”
“Well, I know where to start, no problem there. I was talking with Dad, about the time you’d be finishing your day of indenture yesterday, when I noticed something rotating around him.”
Crystalyn felt a twinge of anxiety. “What are you saying? What was rotating around him?”
Jade hesitated, sucking her lip in her mouth. Crystalyn opened her mouth to tell her to stop abusing her lip, but a look of resolve dulled her eyes and slackened her face. Spitting her lip from her mouth, Jade continued. “A gray fog, a mist, something like that, made up the rotation. Vague shapes spun slowly inside, they were so odd…I concentrated on seeing through the vapor. The harder I looked, the slower the rotation revolved until I could see they were…images. Dad had three, but slowing the images for viewing tugged at my mind like a storm wind ravishing Low Realm. I couldn’t hold it long. After I let it go, I had to lie down. I was so weak, I could barely breathe.”
Crystalyn’s stomach lurched, her anxiety rising faster than she could quash it, a certain sign of a panic attack. Though she didn’t want to, she may have to inject another med. Lately, she’d come to rely on them too much. “What kind of images? Can you describe them?” she was almost afraid to ask.
Beyond the Sapphire Gate: Epic Fantasy-Some Magic Should Remain Untouched (The Flow of Power Book 1) Page 1
